(a) whether there has been delay in completing several under construction railway projects resulting in considerable cost overrun;
(b) if so, the zone-wise details thereof along with the reasons for delay in completion;
(c) the details of the amount of funds spent on the said projects so far; and
(d) the action being taken by the Government for early completion of the said projects so as to check further cost overrun?
MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COMMERCE & INDUSTRY AND
CONSUMER AFFAIRS, FOOD & PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION
(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)
(a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (d) OF UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3631 BY SHRI CHIRAG KUMAR PASWAN TO BE ANSWERED IN LOK SABHA ON 17.03.2021 REGARDING COST OVERRUN PROJECTS
(a) to (d): As on 01.04.2020, 513 Railway projects of 53,039 km length, costing approx. `7.5 lakh crore are in different stages of planning/sanction/execution, out of which 10,013 km length has been commissioned and an expenditure of `1.86 lakh crore has been incurred upto March, 2020. These include:-
(i) 189 New line projects of 21,343 km length, costing `4,04,853 crore, out of which commissioning of 2,633 km length has been achieved and expenditure of `94,575 crore has been incurred upto March, 2020.
(ii) 54 Gauge Conversion projects of 7,003 km length, costing `59,699 crore, out of which commissioning of 3,733 km length has been achieved and expenditure of `23,405 crore has been incurred upto March, 2020.
(iii) 270 Doubling projects of 24,693 km length, costing `2,85,324 crore, out of which commissioning of 3,647 km length has been achieved and expenditure of `67,816 crore has been incurred upto March, 2020.
Project-wise details including cost, expenditure incurred and outlay are made available in public domain on Indian Railways website i.e. www.indianrailways.gov.in > Ministry of Railways > Railway Board > About Indian Railways > Railway Board Directorates > Finance (Budget) > Pink Book (Year) > Railway-wise Works, Machinery & Rolling Stock Programme (RSP).
Completion of a Railway project(s) depends on various factors like expeditious land acquisition by State Government, forest clearance by officials of forest department, shifting of infringing utilities, statutory clearances from various authorities, geological and topographical conditions of area, law and order situation in the area of project site, number of working months in a year for particular project site due to climatic conditions etc. and all these factors affect the completion time and cost of the project(s).
Various steps being taken by the Government for expeditious implementation of rail projects include (i) prioritisation of projects (ii) substantial increase in allocation of funds on priority projects (iii) delegation of powers at field level (iv) close monitoring of progress of project at various levels and (v) regular follow up with State Governments and concerned authorities for expeditious land acquisition, forestry and Wildlife clearances and for resolving other issues pertaining to projects. This has resulted in substantial increase in pace of execution of projects from 2014 onwards. During the period 2014-2020, 15,350 km length (3,395 km of New Line, 4,401 km of Gauge Conversion and 7,554 km of Doubling) were commissioned at an average of 2558 km per year which is 68% more as compared to average commissioning of 1520 km per year during the period 2009-14.
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